by Beth Henshaw – 02.05.2026 – 5 min. read
A citizen-led effort to block a land-sale to a data center developer in Page, Arizona, was rejected on a technicality, but residents continue to oppose the land sale and proposed facility through protest, public records requests, and by attending city council meetings.
In October of last year, the Page City Council voted to sell 500 acres of recreational land less than five miles from Horseshoe Bend to a U.K. company, Huntley LLC, for a $10 billion data center. Data centers are the physical buildings that store cloud data, process cryptocurrency and run artificial intelligence, and can consume huge amounts of power and water for cooling.
Citizens filed a referendum aimed at overturning the city vote in November. The referendum needed 303 signatures to bring the issue to a ballot vote. More than 400 signatures were collected, but the city clerk disqualified all of them due to a technicality: the land sale ordinance was not stapled to the petition pages and the referendum number was written on the front, but not on the back. Land sale opponents said the city failed to provide adequate guidance. “It’s ridiculous that the city wouldn’t provide a sample referendum and give clear instructions on how to fill it out,” Sharon Woodward, a Page resident since 1976, said…
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